Seeking Deliverance from Demonic Darkness
By Apostle W. D. Carter, III
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12
One of the greatest challenges to Christian theology is; “Can a Christian have a demon?” This question has perplexed multitudes of Believers. Both the leadership and congregation have had great difficulty answering this qu
estion. The Bible does not explicitly say that a Christian can have a demon, however, it must be understood that the Bible does imply that the Believer may be oppressed by demons. There are several scriptural text, which make it abundantly clear that the Believer very often is plagued by demon activity in their lives. Consider the following: Jesus was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath. The synagogue was the place where those who believed in the True and Living God assembled every Sabbath day to hear the Word. On this particular day there was a man in the synagogue who had an unclean spirit. This man was a Believer, and yet he had a demon! In fact the spirit in the man cried out and began to disrupt the service, saying, “Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” Mark 1:24.
Please take note that it was the spirit in the man that was talking and not the man himself. Demons are spirit entities or bodiless personalities, and must have a human host in order that they might express themselves. The demons use the faculties of those they inhabit to manifest themselves. The word ‘faculty’ means the power to do, the ability to perform an action i.e., the faculty of sight, hearing, speech, etc. The spirit in the man spoke out because he felt threatened by the Lord’s presence. Jesus, however, did not rebuke the man, but his oppressor. Jesus commanded the spirit to hold its peace, and come out of the man. After a very violent reaction, which manifested itself in the man, the spirit left him. Mark 1:25-26.
In another incident found in the Gospel of Luke we find Jesus casting a demon out of another Believer. This time it’s a woman who had been possessed of a spirit for eighteen years of her life. The spirit that the woman had was known by how it manifested itself in the woman’s body. The manifestation was weakness, frailty, or sickness. The chief characteristic of this spirit is infirmity. The woman was bowed over and could not lift herself up. This might have been a spinal condition, which caused her to bow her head. A lot of Believers unwittingly suffer from this spirit. If you are experiencing a series of physical ailments, which do not run a typical course, and/or fail to respond to medical treatment, chances are that you are suffering from this spirit. Jesus laid His hand on her, and the Bible says that she was immediately made straight, and glorified God. The religious leaders began to rebuke Jesus for having performed this miracle of healing on the Sabbath day. Jesus immediately responded by rebuking them for their very obvious hypocrisy.
He asked them didn’t each of them loose his ass and oxen from the stall so that they could be watered on the Sabbath day? “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” And with that saying His adversaries were put to shame. Luke 13:16-17a. It is very interesting that the ministers of the day (in this instance, the ruler of the synagogue) were more interested in the minute details of their traditional interpretation of the Scripture, rather than in the one to whom the Scripture was intended to minister healing. Such is the case today. Theologians are more interested in the integrity of their theology, rather than in the wholeness of the ones that their theology is intended to educate. More important than any theological argument is the speedy deliverance of God’s people from demonic oppression in their lives. As long as the leadership in the House of God refuses to consider this question in the light of what has been revealed in Scripture, we are going to continue to have spiritual war casualties on our hands.
It is essential that the Believer knows and understands that we are in a multidimensional sin war. This war is being waged against humanity from the invisible realm of the spirit through the avenues of the world system and the part of humanity, which the apostle Paul referred to as the flesh. The world is the external foe, its evil influences surrounding the Believer. The flesh (the self-life) is an internal enemy, its weaknesses making it susceptible to temptation. Satan is an infernal foe, which goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He uses the influences of the world, and the rebellion of the flesh to seduce the Believers, and takes advantage of them by attacking them at their weakest point. However, it must be understood by the Believer that God has not left us at the mercy of the enemy of our soul. He is the Eternal Friend and Deliverer through whom we will experience the victory over the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.
The word ‘flesh’ is a very important expression in terms of the Christian experience. It is the Greek word Sarkos, pronounced sarx in English. This word refers to the baser side of man or his ungodly human nature. It is the unregenerate self of man. It defines either the impulse to sin itself or at least the seat of it. Roman 7:18, 25 declares: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not”. Here, the apostle Paul asserts that he realized that he was experiencing the struggle with indwelling sin. He wanted desperately to do what was right, however, how to perform what he desired to do completely eluded him. Thus, in verse 25 Paul finds complete deliverance through Christ Jesus. “I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
It is essential that the Believer knows and understands that his flesh has been crucified with Christ. This makes him dead to the world, and the world dead to him. However, he must appropriate this new reality by faith. He must also recognize that he is totally incapable of affecting his own deliverance. Gal. 2:20; 6:14. The Bible teaches us that we are saved by grace, through the spiritual principle of faith, and not by our own works or efforts. Eph. 2:8-9. This is very important for the Believer to understand, lest he become frustrated and weary at his apparent lack of progress. This means that, first of all, the Believer must recognize that salvation is both present and prophetic. That is to say that we are saved, and we are being saved.
We are saved in the judicial sense of being saved, because we have repented of our sin, and have put our faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This aspect of our salvation refers to our legal standing before God. We are being saved experientially via the process of sanctification, which is operational in our lives on a daily basis. 2nd Cor. 3:18. This aspect of our salvation refers to our present state before God. The process of sanctification however, must be voluntarily capitulated to in order for it to be effectual in delivering the Believer from the power of indwelling sin.
There are three Greek words that describe man. Pneumatikos is the spiritual man who “walks after the Spirit.” Psuchikos is the natural, or unsaved man. Sarkikos is the carnal Christian who does not have any victory in his life. The carnal Christian does not experience victory in his life, because he is in bondage to his flesh. Consequently, he walks under condemnation, because “sin is condemned in the flesh”. Rom. 8:3. Although the terms carnal and Christian are antithetic to one another, it must be understood that if a born again, Holy Spirit filled, blood washed Believer continues to pander to the lusts of his flesh, he will become carnal. This is why this kind of Believer cannot experience the victory that is inherent to the Christian experience.
In the third chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul refers to the Corinthian believers as carnal, because they were fighting among themselves in reference to who had baptized them, Paul told them that he was unable to address them as spiritual men, because they would be unable to bear what he would say to them. He wanted to share some deep spiritual truths with them, but because they were walking in envy, strife, and division they were babes, and would be incapable of receiving revelation knowledge. Paul told them that they were acting like unsaved men, because they were responding to one another in the flesh, or as men who are dominated by their carnal nature. This is exactly the situation in which we find ourselves today. The Believer must know and understand that as long as he continues to allow his carnal impulses to control him, he can never experience progress in his walk with the Lord. Therefore he will be unable to experience the deeper life in the Spirit. “So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8. It is of paramount importance that the Believer knows and understands that a relationship with the Lord, which is spiritual in its character, can never be developed through a carnal perspective. John. 4:24; Romans 8:7.
The contemporary Christian is a wanderer. He is a spiritual thrill seeker, wandering from one assembly to another. Many Believers who have a call in their lives have been unable to realize it, because they have refused to allow the sanctification process to operate in their lives. This is a result of their lack of commitment to the local assembly. One of the evidences of spiritual immaturity is constant faultfinding. Many Believers are looking for the “perfect” church, and as soon as they see something wrong in the church that they are attending, they wander off somewhere, and end up getting into sin. This is because they are operating in the flesh. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” Matthew 12:43-45. This parable can be applied to the experience of many believers today.
Many people have had a true conversion experience. They were able to clean up their lives in the sense that they stopped living an ungodly lifestyle. They were able to get rid of the evil habits that they formerly indulged in. However, because they failed to commit themselves to a diligent seeking of God via the study and apprehension of the Word, regular church attendance, prayer, and fasting they soon find themselves back in their old haunts, doing the same things that they did before their conversion. But, now they discover that they have become worse than prior to their conversion. This is because, although they managed to clean up their outer life, internally there was never any real change. They were still the demon’s dwelling place, they were still empty, and void of the Spirit and Word of God, and so, the demon was able to reenter them with stronger reinforcements. This is why when a person backslides it is so hard for them to regain the ground that they have lost. In other words, unless a person has really made up his mind that he is going to truly live for Christ, he will end up in a worse state than he was in before coming to Christ. Hence, the key to avoiding this kind of consequence is a constant and consistent renewal of the mind. The psychology of the Believer must be conformed to the mind of Christ.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1. In view of all that God has done for us, Paul enjoins the Believer to make a decisive dedication of his body to God. The word “bodies” in this context means all that the Believer is comprised of, all of his faculties. In other words, the Believer must live the remainder of his earthly life in sacrificial service to God. This involves a voluntary submission to the sanctification process. The word “sanctify” is another very important term in the Christian experience, and means to set apart as holy, to make free from sin, to purify, to consecrate. The Believer must live a life wholly devoted to the honor and glory of God.
However, it is essential that the Believer knows and understands that the sanctification process is excruciatingly painful, because the natural impulse to commit sin must be willfully and consciously denied. Hence, the apostle Peter declares “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh, has ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” 1st Peter 4:1-2. Essentially, what this statement means is that the Believer must no longer spend his earthly existence living to please himself (the self-life), but instead he must live to please God. Jesus Christ has sacrificed his earthly life for us, and now we are required to sacrifice our earthly life for Him. Therefore, the Believer must know and understand that in order for him to live an effective life for Christ, he must be willing to surrender all of his worldly aspirations, ambitions, and social relationships that the will of God might be realized in his life. “If anyone come to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sister[yes] and even his own life also he cannot be My disciple. So then, any of you who does not forsake (renounce, surrender claim to, give up, say good-bye to) all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14: 26,33. Amplified.
When one considers this statement in terms of his Christian experience, he must admit that it is a most profound one, especially when one considers how self indulgent contemporary Christianity has become. It must be said that God has given the revelation of Prosperity to the Body of Christ, however we must realize that our personal prosperity is given not only for us, but also primarily for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. The Bible teaches the Believer that prosperity is available to him for the express purpose of establishing God’s covenant promises to our forefathers. Deut. 8:11-19. The New Testament Believer enters into these promises through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. However, the Lord warned that we are not to forget from whence He has brought us, and to remember to keep his commandments, lest we perish. This means that the Believer must not allow himself to become self indulgent, or to feel as though he had become prosperous through his own strength, In other words, the Believer is not to receive God’s blessing and then abandon his devotion to Him.
When Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, the disciples were astounded, and wondered who could be saved. Mark 10:23-25. They were amazed at this statement because according to Deuteronomy, the 28th chapter, material blessing was a sign that one had the favor of God in his life. However, Jesus was letting the disciples know that there was an inherent danger in material acquisition, because it has the power to lull the possessor thereof into a false sense of security. This means that although God has provided material blessing for the Believer, he must never lose focus on who has provided it for him¾namely God.
In this regard the Believer must experience a complete revolution in his psychological makeup. This means that the Believer must not allow his thinking to be adapted to the capricious superficiality of this evil age. Thus, although Paul’s appeal to the Believer for total consecration is based on the Lord’s mercies to him, and is not a command, nevertheless this consecration is mandatory if effective service is to be realized. The Believer must know and understand that service to God is vitally related to consecration and separation. This calls for nonconformity to the world. Hence, even though prosperity is an inherent advantage in service to God, it must be acquired by the Believer meeting legitimate biblical criterion.
If the Believer allows himself to become over anxious and covetous, he will most likely begin to operate in his flesh, and as a consequent result, he will compromise his position in and relationship with the Lord. Thus, becoming demonically infected through some sin that he will have committed. It is essential to the spiritual well being of every Believer that they keep themselves rightly related to prosperity. Solomon correctly observed that money answers all things, nevertheless, the Believer must keep in mind that the acquisition of monetary wealth is not the goal of the proclamation of the Gospel, but, rather, the reconciliation of man to God.
In the Book of 1st Timothy, chapter six, verses 1-10, Paul gives the Believer instructions concerning relationships and false teachers. In verses 3-5, Paul describes these teachers as those who would not consent to wholesome doctrine. The word “consent” is proserchomai in the original, and means, “approach” with the derivative sense of “attaching oneself to.” The “wholesome words” that Paul referred to are the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine that promotes godliness. Furthermore, in verse 4, Paul describes the false teacher as being stupefied with conceit, although he is woefully ignorant. He is sick, and argumentative. Their teachings result in dissension, quarreling, blasphemies, slander, malicious talk, and suspicion. In verse 5, Paul goes on to say that these men perverted the real meaning of the Gospel, and were bereft of the truth. They assessed the doctrine of godliness as a means of financial profit, a way to make money. Paul cautioned that the Believer is to avoid this kind of association. In verses 6-10 Paul begins by defining genuine profit as godliness with contentment. He reminds us that as we came into this world with nothing, and we shall depart from this world in the same manner¾with nothing. This teaches the Believer, that although material possessions are important in a limited sense to our existence, if our basic needs have been met then we must be content therewith.
In verse nine Paul is concerned with those whose motivation is to be rich. He says that it is through covetousness that many will end up overthrowing their faith. He says that people who have purposed to be rich fall into many temptations, and many foolish and harmful lusts that suffocate them in destruction and miserable perishing. In verse ten, Paul warns the Believer that it is the love of money that is a root of all sorts of evil. He says that it is because of coveting financial gain many of the Believers had wandered from the faith, and have caused themselves serious mental and emotional anguish. It is essential that the Believer knows and understands that once he begins to walk in self-will, he will incur demonic activity in his life. That is to say that many Believers suffer from disillusionment, backsliding, grief, and heartbreaking remorse, because of their personal greed. The term “erred” literally means, “Were led astray”. This suggests that those who are greedy for money become victims of an unrelenting deception. The expression “pierced themselves through means “the many sorrows” were self inflicted.
It is in this regard that the Christian can have a demon. The Christian community must realize that whenever we yield ourselves over to any form of sin, we become servants of sin, and as a consequence, we condemn ourselves to death, that is to say we become separated from God all over again. The enemy now has a legal right to access our lives, and unless we repent there is nothing that either we, or God Himself can do about it. This has been amply demonstrated in the Book of Judges. Israel would experience spiritual declension, God would allow her enemies to vex her, Israel would cry unto the Lord in repentance, and the Lord would give her a deliverer who would usher in revival. “But if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.” 1st John 1:7,9. The Believer must know and understand that if prosperity is realized without a true devotion to God, it has been realized in his own strength, and can only lead to his ultimate destruction. Proverbs 1:32; Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:26-29.
